Michelle Nunn

Michelle Nunn
Born	Mary Michelle Nunn 1966 (age 47–48) Perry, Georgia, U.S.
Residence	Atlanta, Georgia
Alma mater	University of Virginia Harvard University
Occupation	CEO of a non-profit
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Ron Martin
Children	2
Website
MichelleNunn.com

Mary Michelle Nunn^[1] (born 1966)^[2] is a candidate for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat in 2014 and past (on leave of absence) CEO of Points of Light, an American nonprofit. She has been an executive for the volunteer service organization since 1990, previously running the predecessor and member organizations Hands On Atlanta, City Cares, and HandsOn Network. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn.

Early life and early education

Michelle is the daughter of Sam Nunn, a lawyer, farmer, and politician, and the former Colleen Ann O'Brien, who worked for the U.S. State Department, and then briefly for the Central Intelligence Agency under foreign service cover, before becoming a stay-at-home mother.^[1][3][4][5] She has a brother, Samuel Brian, known as Brian, two years younger.^[1][2][5] Within a couple of years of her birth, her father was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He subsequently was elected to four terms as U.S. Senator from Georgia, serving from 1972 to 1997, and was chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1987 to 1995.

Michelle was born and initially lived in Perry, Georgia, where her grandfather had been mayor and where the family had a 2,400-acre (970 ha; 3.8 sq mi) farm.^[6][7][8] But when she was six, the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland,^[7] and thereupon lived in the Washington, D.C. area in conjunction with her father's election to national office.^[9][10][11] She credits her mother for having "really safeguarded a very normal and private environment for us."^[5] Her volunteering began in junior high school, when she frequently engaged in activities such as reading books to old people and giving toys to poor children.^[11] She went to the all-girls, private National Cathedral School in Washington.^[7] There she played basketball^[7] and graduated in 1985.

She attended the University of Virginia, where she majored in history^[11] and had a minor in religion, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.^[12] She studied at the University of Oxford^[12] during 1987. She also studied for four months in India^[5] during 1989. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 1989.^[5]

Hands On Atlanta, City Cares of America

After college, Nunn applied to join the Peace Corps and considered going to law school, but instead opted to join Hands On Atlanta.^[13][14] Founded in 1989 by twelve young professionals,^[14] Hands On Atlanta was a non-profit dedicated to engaging volunteers, especially young businesspeople who would sign up for single days of service on a monthly basis.^[15][16] Rapidly expanding and needing someone to help manage their efforts, they hired Nunn on a part-time basis as their executive director and only paid staffer (despite the title, she later described the position at first as "a glorified internship").^[14][11]

In May 1990, Nunn became full-time executive director, and by September 1990, Hands On Atlanta was coordinating 700 volunteers.^[17] Nunn later said, "I had a real passion for community service and volunteerism, so I had a real passion for the work."^[13] She also credited her upbringing, saying in 1992, "My father has influenced me through example. His own work in the public sphere, I'm sure, played a large part in my work in community service."^[10] Nunn was an early practitioner in garnering corporate backing for such ventures.^[11] Over the next twenty years, volunteers for Hands On Atlanta put in more than 6 million hours, and its founders credited Nunn with a significant role in helping it grow.^[14]

Similar organizations developed in other cities, and in 1992 they formed a national group under the name City Cares.^[15] By 1995, the concept of appealing to young working people had proven successful, and Hands On Atlanta had a budget of $1 million, a paid staff of 17, and over 11,000 volunteers on its mailing list, 7,500 of whom participated in a Hands On Atlanta Day.^[16] At the end of 1998, City Cares of America relocated its headquarters from New York to Atlanta, and Nunn became interim executive director for it, while continuing on as executive director of Hands on Atlanta.^[18] (She was sometimes referred to in the press without the 'interim' designation.^[19]) Subsequently, Nunn returned to focusing on Hands On Atlanta,^[20] and staged a successful, multimillion dollar capital campaign for a new headquarters building in that city.^[11]

Further education, marriage and family, and potential 2004 Senate run

Nunn was a Kellogg National Fellow^[12] in the KNFP-15 group,^[21] c. 1995–1998. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001.^[22]

At a beach ceremony on Cumberland Island in Georgia on June 2, 2001, Nunn married Ron Martin, Jr.,^[23] who works in the real estate business.^[11] The couple live in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta with their two children, Vinson (born 2002)^[20] and Elizabeth^[12] (born c. 2004).^[11] He has served as a stay-at-home father to enable to Nunn to pursue her career.^[7]

Nunn considered a run in the United States Senate election in Georgia, 2004, when incumbent Zell Miller decided to retire.^[20] She had little public visibility and few political assets other than her father's name.^[20] In October 2003, she decided not to become a candidate, saying, "In the next few years, I believe that my primary focus is best directed toward my 11-month-old son and family."^[20]

HandsOn Network, Points of Light

In late 2003, Nunn left Hands On Atlanta to become president of City Cares.^[24] In 2004, City Cares renamed itself to the HandsOn Network.^[15] Under Nunn's leadership, the City Cares model changed somewhat, and a majority of new HandsOn Network affiliates were themselves volunteer centers.^[15]

In 2006, Nunn was named to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.^[25] Later in 2006, she was the editor of Be The Change! Change the World. Change Yourself., a collection of stories from hundreds of volunteers.^[26] It contained forewords from George H.W. Bush and Tom Brokaw and was republished in 2012.^[27]

In 2007, the Points of Light Foundation began talks with the HandsOn Network to join forces through a merger to create one national organization with local affiliates focused on volunteering and service. They formally combined forces on August 11, 2007, to become the Points of Light and Hands On Network (later Points of Light Institute and later still just Points of Light). Nunn presided over the merger, saying of its motivation, "We both could have continued along the route we were on, growing incrementally, but I believe neither of us would have achieved the kind of exponential change we wanted."^[28] She also ensured that the combined operation had its main offices in Atlanta.^[11]

As CEO of Points of Light, Nunn has good relations with the Bush family, as the Points of Light Foundation had derived from President George H. W. Bush and his "thousand points of light" philosophy.^[29] Nunn's trip to Texas to meet with George H. W. Bush had been a key element in forming the merger. Neil Bush, the chair of Points of Light, has characterized Nunn as "a fabulous leader" (although he did not endorse, or oppose, her subsequent Senate candidacy).^[11] Points of Light became the largest organization in the U.S. purposed towards volunteer service.^[30] By 2009, it had a budget of $39 million and its associated HandsOn Network affiliates had a collective budget of $180 million.^[14] In 2011, Points of Light had revenues of $55 million and had over 4 million volunteers mobilized under it.^[11] Nunn's salary was over $300,000.^[11]

2014 Senate run

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia decided to retire after two terms, vacating a senate seat.^[30] With Democratic Congressman John Barrow passing on the race, Nunn consulted with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee about possibly running,^[30] as well as with Georgia political figures such as Shirley Franklin, Roy Barnes, and Andrew Young.^[29] Though she was little known to voters,^[31] Democrats embraced the hope that Nunn, with her executive experience as well as family name, could make their party once again competitive in-state.^[30]

On July 22, 2013, Nunn declared herself a candidate for U.S. Senate.^[32] (She was granted a leave of absence from her position with Points of Light.^[33]) She said: "Our opportunity is to define ourselves. I'm going to talk a lot about the deficit. Neither side of the equation is really tackling that. I think people are really tired of the mudslinging and the silliness of this."^[32] If elected, Nunn would become the 29th Georgian elected to the U.S. Senate or U.S. House with a family member who previously served in Congress, and the first since her father (who is the grandnephew of Carl Vinson).^[34]

Making reference to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Nunn said that some aspects of it should be fixed, but that it should not be eliminated, and she criticized Georgia's refusal to accept Medicaid expansion under the act.^[32] Following the start-up problems with the associated Healthcare.gov website, Nunn broke with the Obama administration and said that the individual mandate portion of the law should be delayed.^[35] On Same-sex marriage, she said she personally favored marriage equality, but that the decision should be made on a state-by-state basis.^[32] An initial Public Policy Polling showed Nunn tied or ahead of the various possible Republican candidates.^[36] She raised $1.7 million in campaign funds during the third quarter of 2013, more than twice that of any Republican running.^[37] She followed that with a $1.6 million fourth quarter.^[38] Nunn has received support and donations from former Republican Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner, both of whom were close to her father.^[39] Commenting on her public image, The New York Times said, "At 47, the cautious and cerebral Ms. Nunn is every bit her father's daughter, down to her owlish glasses and centrist message about curing dysfunction in Washington."^[7]

Awards and honors

Nunn was chosen in 2006 as one of the 100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend.^[40] In 2010, she received a Global Ambassador of Youth Award from the World Leadership Awards for her work with volunteer organizations.^[31] In 2012, Nunn was named for the sixth straight time to The NonProfit Times' annual Power & Influence Top 50 list of the most influential nonprofit executives.^[41] In naming her in 2011, NonProfit Times described Nunn thusly: "The Pied Piper of national service, she has a unique ability to organize disparate people and organizations into a coalition that elected officials are compelled to embrace."^[42]

Nunn, along with her father, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University in 2006.^[43] In 2010, she received an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Wesleyan College.^[44]

References

External links

• Michelle Nunn for Senate
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Points of Light
  • Statement
  • Blog entries
• Blog entries at the Huffington Post
• A 2012 lecture by Nunn